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Repeating last game, not last year, key for Georgia LBs vs. Florida
By Alex Zorn
Published:
It’s been a month of broken dreams in Athens as the once Top 10 Georgia Bulldogs are one loss from leaving the Top 25 for good in 2015. Among the team’s biggest disappointments, none has been more uncharacteristic than Georgia’s inability to rush the passer.
Until their last game. After recording just three sacks in five games to begin conference play, Georgia came alive against Missouri on Oct. 17, sacking QB Drew Lock a season-high four times in a 9-6 Bulldogs win.
Potential first-round pick LB Leonard Floyd recorded his first sack in almost a month, and linebackers Davin Bellamy and Jake Ganus each got their first sack of the season, as well as DE Sterling Bailey. Ganus, a UAB transfer, has stood out in his first season, leading the Bulldogs with 50 tackles and sharing the team-lead with two interceptions.
The question now is: Can they repeat that performance Saturday against Florida?
While it’ll be essential to make Gators QB Treon Harris uncomfortable as much as possible, the linebackers might not get many opportunities to make plays in the Gators’ backfield.
Harris threw just six passes against Georgia last year. He’s thrown more than 20 passes in a game just three times, but one was his most recent start, when he tied his career-high of 32 attempts in a loss at LSU.
The Gators have talked all week about feeling more comfortable with Harris running the offense, and not just running the ball. But Will Grier he is not. Grier averaged almost 35 pass attempts in the three games before he was suspended.
At his press conference Tuesday, coach Mark Richt admitted the change a quarterback is hardly seen as an advantage in Athens. Richt recited Harris’ passing numbers (540 yards passing, 4 TDs) while acknowledging his ability to run.
“He’s just a great, athletic quarterback who is an outstanding passer,” Richt told reporters Tuesday. “Just in their last ballgame he accounted for 90 percent of their offense against LSU. Just a great dual-threat, and obviously he’s 1-0 against the Dogs as well, being last year’s starting quarterback.”
While Harris is emerging as a passer, Georgia’s biggest challenge will be controlling Florida’s running game, which ran all over the Bulldogs at EverBank Field last year.
That starts up front but certainly includes the linebackers.
The Gators ran for 418 yards in last year’s win. If Georgia’s front seven repeats that performance Saturday, it won’t matter how good the pass rush is.
Georgia has lost two games this season, and it struggled to stop the run in both.
Georgia surrendered 148 yards to RB Derrick Henry in a blowout loss to Alabama and gave up nearly 200 yards combined to QB Joshua Dobbs and RB Jalen Hurd against Tennessee.
Though Georgia’s elite linebacking corps is measured in part by how many sacks they get, stopping Kelvin Taylor and Florida’s run game will be their top priority Saturday — and moving forward if the Bulldogs hope to climb back into the Top 25.
